Correlation of the Health Sciences Reasoning Test With Student Admission Variables

Objectives. To assess the association between scores on the Health Sciences Reasoning Test (HSRT) and pharmacy student admission variables

Drivers of overweight mothers' food choice behaviors depend on child gender

National data suggest a higher prevalence of obesity among boys. One possible cause could be the food choices made by parents on behalf of their children

Interest in and reactions to genetic risk information: the role of implicit theories and self-affirmation

Rationale: Implicit theories reflect core assumptions about whether human attributes are malleable or fixed: incremental theorists believe a characteristic is malleable whereas entity theorists believe it is fixed. People with entity theories about health may be less likely to engage in risk-mitigating behavior. Spontaneous self-affirmation (e.g., reflecting on one’s values when threatened) may lessen defensiveness and unhealthy behaviors associated with fixed beliefs, and reduce the likelihood of responding to health risk information with fixed beliefs. Method: Across two studies conducted in the US from 2012-2015, we investigated how self-affirmation and implicit theories about health and body weight were linked to engagement with genetic risk information. In Study 1, participants in a genome sequencing trial (n=511) completed cross-sectional assessments of implicit theories, self-affirmation, and intentions to learn, share, and use genetic information. In Study 2, overweight women (n=197) were randomized to receive genetic or behavioral explanations for weight; participants completed surveys assessing implicit theories, self-affirmation, self-efficacy, motivation, and intentions. Results: Fixed beliefs about weight were infrequently endorsed across studies (10.8-15.2%). In Study 1, participants with stronger fixed theories were less interested in learning and using genetic risk information about medically actionable disease; these associations were weaker among participants higher in self-affirmation. In Study 2, among participants given behavioral explanations for weight, stronger fixed theories about weight were associated with lower motivation and intentions to eat a healthy diet. Among participants given genetic explanations, being higher in self-affirmation was associated with less fixed beliefs. Conclusion: Stronger health-related fixed theories may decrease the likelihood of benefiting from genetic information, but less so for people who self-affirm

Using the ecology model to describe the impact of asthma on patterns of health care

BACKGROUND: Asthma changes both the volume and patterns of healthcare of affected people. Most studies of asthma health care utilization have been done in selected insured populations or in a single site such as the emergency department. Asthma is an ambulatory sensitive care condition making it important to understand the relationship between care in all sites across the health service spectrum. Asthma is also more common in people with fewer economic resources making it important to include people across all types of insurance and no insurance categories. The ecology of medical care model may provide a useful framework to describe the use of health services in people with asthma compared to those without asthma and identify subgroups with apparent gaps in care. METHODS: This is a case-control study using the 1999 U.S. Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Cases are school-aged children (6 to 17 years) and young adults (18 to 44 years) with self-reported asthma. Controls are from the same age groups who have no self-reported asthma. Descriptive analyses and risk ratios are placed within the ecology of medical care model and used to describe and compare the healthcare contact of cases and controls across multiple settings. RESULTS: In 1999, the presence of asthma significantly increased the likelihood of an ambulatory care visit by 20 to 30% and more than doubled the likelihood of making one or more visits to the emergency department (ED). Yet, 18.8% of children and 14.5% of adults with asthma (over a million Americans) had no ambulatory care visits for asthma. About one in 20 to 35 people with asthma (5.2% of children and 3.6% of adults) were seen in the ED or hospital but had no prior or follow-up ambulatory care visits. These Americans were more likely to be uninsured, have no usual source of care and live in metropolitan areas. CONCLUSION: The ecology model confirmed that having asthma changes the likelihood and pattern of care for Americans. More importantly, the ecology model identified a subgroup with asthma who sought only emergent or hospital services